Here’s the first 2013 wooden toy project. It was heavily influenced by a 1950’s-60’s era Linkbelt Speeder crane. Like my other wooden toy projects, it’s made from Douglas-fir and mahogany, finished with several coats of spray on polyurethane. As with all toys, I strongly believe they should encourage imagination/creativity and should be a teaching tool, all without the child knowing it… A few things the child can learn from this toy are how a ratchet locking mechanism works. How counter balancing works (along with the general principle for center of gravity). How a mechanical advantage works from using pulleys. What the difference between ferrous and nonferrous metals are by how they react to the magnet attachment. And finally, how trusses can form strong lightweight structures (on the lattice boom construction). This toy comes with a heavy duty hook for heavy lifting, a headache ball (smaller hook) for a whip line, a wrecking ball, boom winch and a magnet attachment.